On the C.L.: Yes, I Cried on the Today Show—But You Would Have Too If You Heard Maya Angelou Speak This Morning

So this morning, three of Glamour's 2009 Women of the Year and I were on the Today Show to talk to Matt Lauer about our awards ceremony tonight at Carnegie Hall. Google genius Marissa Mayer discussed role models. Serena Williams talked about her mother's strength. And then Dr. Maya Angelou recited a stanza from her amazing poem "Phenomenal Woman" and the Today show set suddenly became a very beautiful, very spiritual place.

Here's the clip. It's five minutes long, with Dr. Angelou's poem at the end, but the payoff is worth it.

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And here's the point: In addition to being one of the most inspiring human beings on the planet (and a warm, life-loving optimist, despite her brutal childhood experiences of rape and racism), Dr. Angelou completely resisted the tendency to elevate women by putting down men. It's tempting, with events like Women of the Year, to get into a "go, girl!" frame of mind, slamming men as sexist neanderthals and women as heavenly angels. "Women are phenomenal; I know men are phenomenal too," she told Matt. "I just say this to you and other men: Write your own poem. This one is ours."
For those of you who didn't have it taped to your fridge in your early 20s (confession: I did. And I think I'm going to re-tape it there tonight), here's how it starts:
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Inspired? Follow our complete coverage of tonight's Women of the Year event [here](/women-of-the-year)—we'll have everything from red carpet highlights to great acceptance speeches tomorrow morning on glamour.com. Or follow along tonight from the event itself on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/glamourdotcom)!
P.S. Did you watch Woman of the Year [Rihanna on 20/20](http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=9020947) Friday night? I think she's so brave for speaking out—and ABC tells *Glamour* that calls to the national domestic violence hotline went up 59 percent and calls to the helpline geared to teens went up 73 percent after the interview. If you want to support Rihanna for her honesty, go to the nonprofit [dosomething.org](http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/say-thanks-rihanna); they're compiling "Thank You Rihanna" messages, and if you send one, you get a free download of one of her songs!
[Check out all our impressive, inspiring and incredible Women of the Year!](/women-of-the-year)
[Catch up with past winners here!](/magazine/2009/11/catch-up-with-past-women-of-the-year#slide=1)
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